ARVADA — Arvada West baseball coach Danny Vais pushed all the right buttons Friday as the Wildcats ran their winning streak to nine games.
The Wildcats (16-2-1, 8-0 in Class 5A Jeffco League) finished a 2-game sweep over Columbine with a 9-3 home victory.
“The kids are playing well and doing a lot of things really, really well,” Coach Vais said of the current winning streak. “To be honest with you, it isn’t just a couple of guys. You saw that today.”
Freshman Kolten DeGroot got the start on the mound and gave A-West a solid four innings, giving up three runs on four hits. Junior Luke Alonso took over on the mound in the fifth inning and retired the first six batters he faced.
When Columbine (6-13, 2-6) got runners at the corners with one out in the top of the seventh inning, Coach Vais decided to put junior Cole Eisenreich on the hill and move Alonso to right field.
“I trust all of our bullpen. I was ready for whatever,” Alonso said of moving from pitcher to right field. “It was perfect. You just have to be ready for whatever the team needs.”
The first pitch Eisenreich threw was a fly ball to Alonso in right. He caught the ball and fired to home plate to get out the Rebel that tagged up at third base. The 9-2 double play ended the game.
“It is one of those situations where everything kind of worked out,” Coach Vais said of the game-ending double-play.
A-West’s bottom of the line-up got the offense started against Columbine. With two outs in the second inning, juniors Beau Friesen, Cameron Thornton, Keegan Millikan and freshman Holden Goodrich cranked out four consecutive hits that eventually led to a 4-run inning all with two outs.
“They came up huge for us,” A-West senior Tate Deal said of the Wildcats’ six- to nine-hole hitters.
With the bottom half getting things going, lead-off batter Braydon Reiner and sophomore Cooper Vais both had RBI singles to cap off the 4-run inning.
Deal, who actually was the only A-West starter without a hit through the first three innings, delivered with his team-leading sixth home run of the season with a 2-run blast to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning. The home run extended the Wildcats’ lead to 7-3.
“I was just trying to stick to my approach,” Deal said about his third at-bat. “Just adjust my swing to what was going on.”
Alonso added on with a 2-run double in the sixth inning to make the score 9-3.
“We have great coaches to lead us. Great seniors to help lead us,” Alonso said. “We have a lot of young guys who come in to just do their job.”
A-West has a quick turnaround for its next conference game. The Wildcats have a 10 am game Saturday, May 3, at rival Ralston Valley (10-8, 5-3). The Mustangs are coming off being swept earlier this week in their 2-game set against Valor Christian.
“Every one of these games is going to be big,” Coach Vais said of closing the regular season with a pair of games against Ralston Valley and Valor. “We are excited for those games. We know they will be up for us. They have great teams and great pitching on both sides. We are just going to have to match it.”
A-West has a 1-game lead over Valor (9-10, 7-1) and 3-game lead over Ralston Valley with four league games remaining for all 5A Jeffco teams.
“It really just comes down to taking it game-by-game,” Deal said about being in position to win a conference title for the first time since 2014. “Focusing on each and every game by itself.”
